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Baseball (the talkin' sport)


Tom Strange
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Steinbrenner usually goes ballistic during a bad spring training record.

One baseball cliche that I think is true is that no team is as good as theylook when they're winning, or as bad as they look while losing.

While every game is equally important, April is a distant memory by June. Otherwise the Washington Nationals should start printing playoff tickets now.

Dumbest reporter's comment I've heard so far this year. A woman interviewing Eric Gagne of the Dodgers, who is on the DL. The Dodgers have gotten off to a great start, with a team of cast offs and strangers, and LA is already talking world series. When Gagne comes in to pitch , graphics and loud music 'welcome to the jungle' come on qith 'Game Over' flashed everywhere. So this woman interviewing Gagne says it's ok for gagne to recuperate because the Dodger team this year is 'game over' because they came back in the 9 th a couple of times. And she said it in all seriousness, like 9th inning comebacks will be the norm.

Speaking of which-I took in Dodger stadium this weekend and was horrified by the changes.

Frank McCourt, the 'Boston parking lot attendant', has turned the stadium into a barrage of billboards. The worst is this video screen that wraps arouns the first deck and assults the eyes all game long with bright ads and effects. Truely a mess.

But this board is all about the Red Sox. Just needed to vent.

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quote:
But this board is all about the Red Sox.

Well I didn't mean it to be that way--so I'm a little fanatical -let the board be about anything baseball, and I hope it is....Its just that where I come from the Red Sox ARE baseball and I get carried away. Games are a religious sacrament and a sacred inheritance from the ancestors (or just about), so I come from that perspective. Its a hard habit to break--when you see em every day

...but I'd just as soon talk about the Dodgers, Cubs, Rangers, Little League, the Toledo Mudhens, prospects in A ball, or why on earth the Veterans Committee won't vote Ron Santo into the Hall ( a huge travesty imo).....I'll try to tone it down a bit..

FWIW I hate those scoreboards too--they just installed one in play on the outfield wall in Toronto and it has already caused all sorts of confusion and dangers with the outfielders.... and that fan in question had his season tickets revoked and was put on double secret probation.

Edited by mstar1
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Home team myopia is not limited to New England, and while I agree that Red Sox fan is a breed apart, he really is no more devoted or special than Cub fan, Phillie fan, Yankee fan, or Mudhen fan.

Don't mean to demean your religious devotion. These are your glory days, and you should enjoy them while they last. And I mean that sincerely. The other absolute in baseball is nothing lasts forever.

I tend to think they shouldn't have revoked that guys tickets, but I do think that people tend to see that play differently after watching it for the thousandth time. I still think he intended to interfere with the play , and that he was a drunken ahole with a bad attitude. If you're going to start revoking every fan who fits that description, the joint will be half empty.

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quote:
But this board is all about the Red Sox.

really it's not!

heck, I started this thread because... well... because WE LOVE BASEBALL!

...it just happened that the boys from Boston won it all and it was/is a special time for them... heck, they waited a long time...

me? I've only been waiting 33 years for the stRangers... but I've loved the game a lot longer than that... I'll go to a game anywhere, anytime... just ask me!

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FWIW-I just saw something that I have never ever seen before---Manny Ramirez hit one over the light tower in left--it was still rising as it went over the tower ---and its a high frikkin tower----

it left the park, crossed a street, an entire block of buildings and landed on some railroad tracks beyond the buildings--They don't do the estimates here, but its gotta be 550 to 600 feet...Yikes...

I usually dont get impressed that much by tape measure jobs but that one is leaving my jaw dropping

Ok I'll try to quit being a hometown guy-but for my money Manny is the best righthanded batter I have ever had the privilege to watch day after day....

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So we're talking homers here?...Is that as in home town boys or moonshots?...Hey,hiway,glad to have you here,as long as it has anything to do with baseball,we'll give a listen...

This has got to be the lowest point in poor Nomah's life...I'm serious...Batting third on a good hitting ballclub like the Cubs...Manager believes in you,even though you're only hitting about .165,...How can it get any worse?...Pull a groin muscle,and get carried off the field on a stretcher,after ominously hitting into a double-play....Now he's out 2-3 months...Didn't we say before,mstar,baseball can be cruel?...Good thing it's a long season...

I haven't been following pro ball too much...Highschool ball is zapping too much of my baseball energy...When your kid's on the field,you analyze every pitch,...or movement on the field,then another dad analyzes your analysis,and a third dad will add color to his analysis of your analysis,and all the while another dad is analyzing the whole purpose of highschool baseball,because his kid's not getting enough playing time...When it gets too thick,I hit the ringer on my phone and act like my stockbroker or bookie is calling and I have to go walk away and handle business...Who was it that said we live vicariously through our sons,anyhow?...Excathedra?...What does she know about baseball?...

Anyway,highway,I'm always glad to hear about other clubs,...there's too many to follow all of them...And right about now,if you're a Dodger fan,you should have the lead in bragging rights....

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Well, Im a Dodger fan in that I live 15 minutes from Dodger Stadium, and take in about 20 games a year. Dodger Stadium is a wonderful place, at least it used to be before the new owners got their hands on it.

I wouldn't start bragging just yet either. The Dodgers have excellent pitching but a team of cast offs, has beens, and jeff kent. Withing a year of the new ownership, the entire team has been dismantled, and extremely popular players sent packing. If this team of strangers can maintain throughout the season, I'll be amazed.

I'm not really a 'fan' of anyone anymore, but I still love baseball whenever and however i can get it. I grew up in Connecticut in the dividing line between mew York and Boston. I was a rabid Yankee fan as a kid, who also thought the Sox were cool. Hated the Mets. When i was 12, and baseball was at its most important, the yankees went into the tank for 10 years. I lived my teen years with the Horace Clarke and Jake Gibbs , Yankees. The Red Sox had them outclassed in every way back then. I was still a big yankee fan during the reggie jackson years, and my fav yankee team by far is the paul O Neill Tino martinez etc late 90's team.

I got over my yankee myopia as soon as I moved away from Connecticut. I went to lots of reds games in ohio, padres, and Angels games in california, and many minor league parks in between. I just find I enjoy the game more if I'm not too wrapped up in a team. I got tired of feeling good if they won, and lousy if they lost., with absolutely no control over it. I can sit back in the loge section of Dodger Stadium, with a Dodger Dog, peanuts and a beer, and just enjoy being there.

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Do you think we'd confuse everyone if we started many different baseball threads?

I'd love to talk about the tragedy of Nomar, the Dodgers, going to 20 games a year, being able to view a game dispassionately, Simons kid on the hill, the roles of ownership or any number of things that are going on here but my ADD head can't express the many threads within the thread without it sounding confused.

I came here because right now I am sort of irked that I got the allstar ballot in my email this morning.(Vote Early! Vote Often!)

Its April 22, what are we supposed to do vote for the best players of the first 2 1/2 weeks?

Isn't it a little early?

MLB is getting ridiculous imo

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all star balloting rarely goes to the most deserving anyway. Don't be surprised when Barry Bonds makes first ballot even tho he may not play a game by then.

Any system where you can gather hundreds of ballots and punch holes all day is not to be taken seriously.

Still, the baseball all-star game is the only one that matters, and that people care about.

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The good thing about having ADD is people can change the subject on you all the time and you never know it....

Boy,what got into the Chisox?..15-4 and I haven't seen Frank Thomas' name in any of the box scores...You wonder sometimes what effect a superstar with padded stats has on the overall record of a team...We talked about this before with A-rod...It's still too early for me to get excited about anything,other than just enjoying the game...

Btw,does anybody else besides me have an opinion on the league that wins the all-star game having home-field advantage in the World Series?

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My 2 cents on the all star game and home field advantage.

I don't like it, and I don't think it's done a thing to make the game more exciting or meaningful. It also wasn't necessary, as the baseball all star game already is the most popular among the major sports.

Most of the players know they are not going to be in the series, so what do they care? I'm not sure they would care anyway.

If you're going to make the game 'meaningful', then the voting system is all wrong. The players, and coaches should pick the team if you're playing for a world series advantage. That won't happen, but if you're going to keep it with the fan's voting, then it should be regulated to one fan one vote. It's absurd to see some kid at a ballpark with a pile of all star ballots, punching the holes on the home team, then stuffing the box.

The game is an exhibition, and should be treated as such. It's played totally different than a 'real' game, with an attempt to get everyone in the game. I think we used to do that in little league. That some wonderful contests have resulted from it is a testament to the professionalism of the players. The game does seem to take on a life of it's own once it starts.

But it's still an exhibition, and should have nothing to do with series home field advantage.

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I hear ya there 29, home field advantage should be fair and IMO it shoulden't be decided by the All Star game at all the, AL wins almost every year is that fair NO it is not fair to the NL. i'd rather they flip a coin at least that would be fair or maybe take turns. but this system is not fair, never has been and never will, but hey they don't care about what we think, we just pay thier salories with tickets so high and the hotdogs are way too high along w/suveneirs.

and what do we get? a crummy parking lot owner w/his head up his foot, turning our beatiful park into a carnival with all those lights assaulting our eyes and with a few exceptions ie :Bradley and Izturis a bunch of has beens and wanna be's. And the best team they've had in years they let or sent em packing. IMO the guy must have had a major melt down. I am a third generation Dodger fan starting with my grandpa and dad in Brooklyn. We then moved to So. Cali along with our Dodgers. I'm so pi$$ed right now I'm shaking just thinking about it.

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The Dodgers are a mess, wytedove, but their pitching is good enough, and they have just enough hitters to make them look 'respectable.

The boston parking lot attendant and the junior moneyball guy from oakland haven't a clue.

Gone-Adrian Beltre, Paul Loduca,Shawn Green, Dave Roberts, Steve Finley, Jose Lima,Alex Cora, Guirsomething Mota, and others-all in less than a year.

I was at Dodger Stadium the other night and was surprised that Shawn Green, now with Arizona, was booed. He didn't want to go anywhere. I enjoyed his home run immensely.

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And beautiful Dodger Stadium is still turning into an eyesore with the barrage of ads, video strip screen, and incessant head banging music. It just costs more to park for the privilege now. And Dodger Dogs cost 4 bucks now. For that , it would be nice to get one that's hot now and then.

bitch bitch gripe gripe

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No we don't need to return to Manny--29, I'm in greasespot recovery and curtailing my time here, and although I love baseball I am wondering what to do with it also. A 40 year quest that could never happen has been fulfilled--do you retire while you're on top-- return it to pastime status and get on with other things?

i don't know but these are things I wonder about these days

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I've heard about the psychology of Sox fan having to deal with the realities of post series depression. That was some quest, and now there's nothing to do but do it again. Losing will not seem quite as forgivable now that the Sox are just another good team.

It's one reason I got off the Yankee train. To die hard Yankee fan, they have to win EVERY year . That's insane and takes all the joy out of the game.

I still love baseball and love going to games. It's hard to explain but I find not getting emotionally involved with a team preferable.

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I am thinking of going something along those lines Hiway--Its not that I don't love the game--I do, and its not so much depression to be dealt with as an entirely different worldview, and allowing it to come into focus....

If the Red Sox can win the World Series - then in reality anything can happen.

What is someone to do with this stark realization?

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Well,my son's high school baseball season came to a screeching halt today...He played up with varsity for the regionals,and we were ousted today with a 17-3 pounding...He did pretty well,actually..Only gave up a field goal...First two pitchers each gave up a touchdown...

So far it looks like the Cards are playing good baseball(beat Cincy the other day with a seven-run ninth inning rally),as are the D-backs,Chisox and the Orioles...in spite of having Sosa in the line-up...Cubs are looking more like the Cubbies every day...

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  • 4 weeks later...

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